By shifting Freeland to funding, Trudeau is showing a fresh, progressive face on his government’s economic recovery plan – one that is not bound by scandal, but is well known and respected among Canadians and other countries with future issues. Canada can do.
“We need a long-term plan for recovery – a plan that addresses the fundamental holes that unmasked this pandemic,” Trudeau said.
Not lost on Freeland is the disproportionate effect of the economic downturn on women. “I am glad I will have the opportunity to bring my experience as a woman, as a mother, to this truly important challenge facing our country,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
She sought to reaffirm the importance of a “green” reshuffle for the Canadian economy, a subject that apparently led to a clash between Trudeau and Morneau. ‘It must also be proportionate. It needs to be inclusive, and we need to focus a lot on jobs and growth, ”Freeland said of the Liberals’ forthcoming economic plan.
As part of this agenda renewal, Trudeau has essentially stopped parliamentary work until September 23, when his government will present a new agenda subject to a vote of confidence in the House of Representatives. While the prime minister defended the move as a way to get the parliament’s purchase in the direction of his government to the Covid-19, opposition members accused him of trying to bury the ethical scandal that Ottawa has been burying in recent weeks. .
Freeland is widely respected in Canada and internationally. Since the federal election and during the unpacking of pandemic programs, she has developed close working relationships with many of Canada’s prime ministers and municipal leaders – many of whom were less than enthusiastic when the Liberals came to power last year.
“She is probably the most competent minister in the Trudeau government,” Conservative MP Randy Hoback, who serves as his party’s international trade critic, told POLITICO. “When they have a problem file, they seem to give it to them.”
Still, some opposition leaders suggested Tuesday that Freeland could be infected by her association with Trudeau and Morneau, both of whom are being investigated for their roles in approving a WE Charity contract to manage a C $ 900 million student grant program. The group paid Trudeau’s wife, mother and brother for work at charity events, and WE raised more than C $ 41,000 in travel expenses that Morneau’s family took with the organization in 2017.
“She was there,” said new faction leader Jagmeet Singh of the cabinet meeting where the contract was signed.
Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre notes that Freeland is chairing the cabinet committee focused on Ottawa’s response to Ottawa’s Covid-19 which initially highlighted the contract. “That is the scandal in which we are involved today,” he said.
The new finance minister is taking over not only an economic reset, but a massive fiscal gap.
An estimate prepared by the government in July predicted that the 2020-2021 federal deficit could exceed C $ 300 billion, precipitated by a simultaneous decline in revenue and spike in emergency spending. Ottawa has paid C $ 2,000 a month to workers who have lost their jobs or seen their hours cut since mid-March because of the pandemic, a program that could eventually cost up to $ 80 billion.
“The decisions made over the coming weeks will set the country’s economic direction for the next several years,” Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Perrin Beatty said in a statement prior to Freear’s testimony. “As we move up the world to COVID, we must build on the spirit of partnership that developed during the pandemic to open our economy cautiously but slowly and to encourage the investment and growth of the private sector that is needed. are to protect the Canadian standard of living. “
Freeland has a history of being asked to take on challenging roles.
The former financial journalist, recruited to step down for retired interim Liberal leader Bob Rae’s seat in 2013, soon stepped into the ranks of the Trudeau government when he became prime minister in 2015. Freeland started as International Trade Minister, and entered into free trade negotiations between Canada and the European Union.
By January 2017, she was the country’s top diplomat, although she retained responsibility for renegotiating NAFTA once President Donald Trump made it clear that his criticisms of the pact’s campaign trail were more than just political overtures. The bilateral relationship in Canada is considered the most important of the country, because the US is the largest trading partner and shares with it the longest undefined land border in the world.
When the Liberals were brought back into the minority in the fall of 2019, Trudeau gave the native Alberta the extra role of intergovernmental affairs. Although historically considered a second-tier post, the job took on greater significance following an election campaign that saw regional divisions become stronger, with western oil-producing provinces largely rejecting liberal candidates.
Trudeau also mentioned the handling of the deal as Freeland’s deputy prime minister – a largely ceremonial title that is not often bestowed on MPs, although clearly intended to recognize their achievements. He also maintains Canada-US relations under her management, yet another recognition of their importance to his government. As chairman of the cabinet’s Covid-19 commission, Freeland played a key role in guiding Canada’s position on restricting cross-border movements during the North American pandemic.
Hoback said he did not expect Freeland to relinquish her Canada-US responsibilities, noting that the role of finance minister could lend her even more credibility among U.S. policymakers. However, he said he was concerned that she and other cabinet ministers with large portfolios would be spread too thin at a critical time.
“In reality, you can’t do all this,” he said.
A Freeland spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment as to whether that would remain part of her responsibilities.
Trudeau said he and Freeland have been talking for nearly a decade about how to make a cancer land for Canadians. “She wrote a book on the subject, and has been a major player in my government since day one,” he said.
For all its bona fides, Freeland is anything but sure about tough decisions as Canada tries to dig itself out of a pandemic-sized fiscal hole – choices that could put them at a single point on Trudeau.
Freeland declined to describe agreements they had, though she said she and the prime minister on Monday “reflected” on them with good humor. “
“My motto has been to have open, open-hearted conversations in the private ministry, but also to have a united front when we go public,” she said.
